Frigid Weather
by crazyshannonigans
Summary: One-shot for Jily Secret Santa on tumblr. James enjoys flying in the cold after quidditch practice. Lily needs to seek him out for some reason. They both get deviated from their agendas and end up having an eye opening conversation. Happy Holidays!


Frigid Weather

I flew around the pitch again, enjoying the feeling of the cold air hitting my face. As I raced around practicing my skills, I could see my breath in front of me. Flying in December was a favorite activity of mine. The cold air and exhilaration was something to always look forward to in my mind. Winter meant cold weather and cold weather meant flying and then being sick the next day and drinking a cup of tea whilst sitting near the Gryffindor fire place. If I was alone, a book normally came in handy as well. Not many people knew about my passion for reading. Yes, I was an arse to people. Yes, I really didn't pay attention in classes. Yes, I was never seen with a book in public. It was still something I greatly enjoyed, just in private. Remus, Sirius, and Peter knew of my reading habits but no one else. Not even the girl I was in love with knew. My counterpart, Head Girl Lily Evans, was a known book lover but I wasn't.

I turned my attention back to flying. The cold air whipped my face as I looped around the pitch and flew zigzags in between the goal posts. Tears stung my eyes and I smiled as the ground and stands blurred in my vision. Blinking, I cleared my vision and sharply dove towards the ground. I was in the zone. This was my calming activity. This was how I cleared my head. This was how I thought over hard decisions. This was also how I attempted to get over Lily Evans. My crush on her had been ever present since first year. Back then, I was mean to her. I convinced the Marauders to play pranks on her. Some cruel, some not truly mean. We levitated her books so she couldn't reach them. We took her favorite spot in the common room on purpose. We made noise in the library so she couldn't concentrate. We made her trip in the middle of the Great Hall and "accidentally" spilled food on her. In third year, when I actually started noticing girls, I realized that I didn't just like Lily Evans but I was enamored with her. Summer before fifth year, I was certain I was in love with her and that we were destined to be together. No matter what I did though, Lily always saw me as the arrogant arse who played pranks on her and didn't care about the rules, schoolwork, respect, or what people thought of me. Well the last one is an exaggeration. As long as people knew who I was and that I was top of the food chain at Hogwarts, I didn't care what they actually thought of me. I was the king. I ruled the school with my mates. No one else could challenge that. Of course, people thought I was hilarious considering most of the Marauders' pranks were aimed at Slytherins and with the whole deal with Voldemort going on, people weren't to fond of the Slytherins. Of course there was one person whose opinion I cared about. Unfortunately, she wasn't too fond of me. Lily Evans hated me. She wasn't fond of our pranks and disregard for the rules. Thinking about Lily angered me and I leaned forward putting my body flush against my broom. I flew faster and the wind whipped my face and made my hair slick back near my head. I couldn't think about Lily. I was trying to get over her. We may have started being friends last year, but she hated that I was Head Boy. I got the position handed to me, a non prefect, while she had worked her tail off to get that badge. It frustrated me, but I saw her point. She was always putting in so much effort to be in her top-of-the-class spot while I never put in too much work and was also near the top of the class. I could see why she hated me. Didn't like it, but I saw her point.

I shook my head out of frustration. I was not going to think about Lily Evans while flying. I pushed harder on the broom and flew more recklessly. The wind hit my face painfully and i smiled. Pain was good. Physical pain I could take. I flew loops and took sharp turns. I lost myself in flying and technique, focusing solely on my flying. As I turned around the goal posts, I saw red flashing on the stands. I slowed up and focused on the patch of red. It looked like a person and I only knew one person with hair that color. As to why she would be out here confused me. Lily Evans very much hated me and didn't seek me out for anything. She avoided me on a regular basis.

Curious, I flew over to the stands and braked right in front of her. "Evans, what are you doing out here?" I asked snippishly. She liked me last year, didn't this year, but sometimes was bearable to deal with when we were near each other. She was giving me whiplash to be honest. I just wanted to know if I should give up on her or not. Lily looked a little hurt and I wanted to take back the tone of my question. Remus had been right. I was not in control of my emotions around Lily and if I wanted to get on her good side, I had to learn to control them.

"I was looking for you Potter," she sneered back, wrapping her arms around her chest. I looked at her sheepishly and tried a small smile. Her look softened a little and I jumped for joy in my head. Any positive reaction from Lily was a reason to celebrate. I suddenly wondered why Lily would be looking for me. I racked my brain to see if I could remember any meeting or reason that Lily would need me.

"Why are you looking for me Lily? There's no meeting tonight and no other reason that we would need to see each other," I inquired. Lily's face dropped and I regretted my words. They did have an unnecessarily harsh edge to them. "I'm sorry, that was rude," I apologized. Lily looked at me in wonder. Of course, I had never really apologized to Lily right after being a prick to her. Probably a bad decision on my part. Surely would have saved myself a lot of trouble if I apologized to Lily when we were younger.

"What, I'm not allowed to go looking for you if I want to talk?" Lily asked, visibly hurt. I looked at her sheepishly and ran a hand through my hair. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I saw the rest of the team come inside a while ago and didn't see you. I was a little worried," she admitted softly. I genuinely smiled at her.

"You were worried about me?" I asked. "I thought you hated me." Lily looked at me, shocked.

"Maybe I used to James but not so much anymore," she told me softly. I looked at her in surprise. Lily caught my eye and blushed, bowing her head towards the ground. "Around fifth year I stopped hating you. There was still a lot of dislike, but I could see your appeal and how much you helped others. I would go to quidditch games and you would be everywhere, trying to keep others safe and doing your part on the team. Not to mention when you stuck for me against Severus. You may be a pain in the arse and I don't always agree with your actions, but you did save me. That year Sev was always talking about his Slytherin friends and everything was creeping me out. That day was a wake up call that my best friend had changed. I don't know what he would have done, but thank you for being there and sticking up for me," Lily explained. "Then last year, your head did seem to deflate a bit. Though you still have no regards for the rules, you have changed. You've taken on more responsibility. It's evident with how you act as quidditch captain. You're a good man James. You just happen to be a little infuriating at times," Lily added. I looked at her in shock. She blushed again and ran her hand through her hair, putting some of it behind her ear.

"Lily, look at me," I quietly told her. When she lifted her head and met my eyes I smiled warmly at her. "Hearing you say my name and that you don't hate me anymore is amazing." Now it was Lily's turn to be shocked.

"But I though you didn't like me!" she protested. "All those pranks and arguments we had made me think you hated me! **That's** why I didn't like you. I couldn't figure why you would play pranks on me and dislike me. You infuriated me," Lily cut in.

"I never hated you Lily. Well, maybe first and second year. I couldn't figure out why on Earth you would always stand out to me and why I felt the need to be near you. That confused me so I played pranks on you and targeted you. I thought you stuck out to me because I wanted to play pranks on you. Then, I figured out I liked you but by that point you didn't like me because of the pranks those first two years," I explained. "You stand out to me because you intrigue me Lily. I really like you. You're the one person I can truly focus on. The one person whose opinion matters the most to me. I am wrapped around your fingers Lily Evans. Always have been, always will be," I confessed. Lily had her mouth open and was speechless.

"James, you definitely annoyed me a lot during first and second years. Third year too. Then when you were nicer to me fourth and fifth years, I was confused. I thought you were playing with me, jokingly asking me to Hogsmeade a few times. Truthfully, I thought it was for a bet or just the chase. You know, people want what they can't have. That idea fueled my hatred of you. I convinced myself that you didn't actually like me but that you were in it for the chase or something like that. I blinded myself to the real you. Of course Sev helped with that as well..." Lily trailed off. "But the main thing is now I like you. Breaking off my friendship with Severus took away the blindfold I had created. Last year, I saw the real you. To be truthful, I liked the real you. It was a lot better than the prat I had built up in my head. You were sincere and kind and helpful. Then this year, I realized that for the past six years at Hogwarts I had built up the bad image to suppress a crush I had on you. That eleven-year-old boy I met on the train who was so sure about being sorted into Gyffindor and then didn't care that the boy sitting next to him was from a line of Slytherins entranced me. You were so confident and different from Sev. It captured my attention. Until you pranked me. It went downhill from there. The boy on the train was not the same boy who was in my house. I built that bad image to protect myself. I lied to myself that you were a prat and that the boy on the train wasn't you. Until this year. This year changed everything. You are that boy from the train. We just both let our emotions control what we saw in the other," Lily justified. All I could manage to do was stare at her. We looked into each others eyes for a minute.

"That's the best thing I've ever heard," I whispered. Once again, Lily blushed and looked at her shoes. "So, where does this leave us?" I asked, wanting Lily to make the call. I needed her to be comfortable around me before doing anything rash.

"I hope it leaves us as more than friends," Lily whispered. My heart soared at those simple words. What they implied was something I had been waiting for since fourth year. "I mean, we did basically just admit that we have feelings for each other," Lily elaborated in a joking manner. I snorted and nodded.

"I hope so too Lily." Then, I leaned forward on my broom and kissed her. It was like fireworks going off. That kiss was the one I had been waiting for. The kiss from the girl I loved. Our lips moved together for a few seconds before I broke it off and looked into her emerald eyes. "So Evans," I started with a grin on my face, "want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" I asked, much like the first time I asked her out in fourth year. Lily laughed and nodded.

"I'd be delighted Potter," Lily replied in the same tone. We both laughed for a few seconds before a comfortable silence enveloped us.

"So Lily, why'd you come looking for me anyway?"

"I'm not sure anymore. But I don't believe agreeing to be your girlfriend was the reason. I think I needed to yell at you for missing last nights prefect meeting."

"There was a meeting last night?"

"Exactly."


End file.
